The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Sunday, slammed the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, over what it termed, ‘a calculated attempt’ to tarnish the image of its Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

In a statement disclosed by Kola Ologbondiyan, Director Media and Publicity, PDP Presidential Campaign Council, the party alleged that APC was behind the stories surrounding Atiku’s inability to travel to US. The party equally stated that nothing prevents Atiku from travelling to any part of the world and noted that (him) ‘Atiku is not like Buhari who has made the sky his office’.

Read the full statement below:

The attention of the PDP Presidential Campaign has been drawn to fresh fabrications allegedly being sponsored by the Muhammadu Buhari Presidency, in its unrelenting bid to tarnish the image of our Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, since their realization that Nigerians have reached a consensus to vote him in as their next President.It is indeed despicable that President Buhari will continue to endorse the spinning of lies by his handlers against another Presidential candidate, including its false claims that Atiku Abubakar cannot travel to the United States, which Nigerians have since seen to be mere fabrications.

Is it not ludicrous that the Buhari Presidency has abandoned its statutory duties and turned itself into a lying, “monitoring spirit” on Atiku Abubakar and his movements, yet it has not been able to produce any documentary evidence to substantiate its claims?

President Buhari’s fixation on Atiku Abubakar, to the extent of sponsoring fabrications in a section of the media, only goes to show that he is intimidated by our candidate’s resume, his overwhelming popularity and policy direction, which have since amplified his (President Buhari’s) incompetence and lack of direction, as a result of which he is being rejected by the majority of Nigerians.

Atiku Abubakar is a global figure and is not inhibited, in any way whatsoever, from traveling to any part of the world.

However, he is not prepared to make the sky his office, unlike President Buhari, who unleashed a widely condemned taste for very expensive and wasteful gallivanting with our national fleet, while Nigerians wallow in abject poverty for neglect and abuse of resources. In any case, the PDP refuses to lose sight of the fact that our campaign is on the rescue mission and that Nigerians are looking up to our candidate for direction.

As such, we will not allow the rejected Buhari Presidency to distract us from our focus of repositioning and redirecting our nation to the path of a united, peaceful, secure and prosperous nation where are all citizens are happy and free. The PDP Campaign therefore counsels President Buhari to note that Nigerians have moved ahead with Atiku Abubakar as their next President. He should therefore use the remaining days of his fading administration to prepare answers for his misrule.

President Buhari should, by now, be providing answers for the over N11 trillion stolen under his watch, particularly in the petroleum sector where he sits as minister; the alleged diversion of funds meant for the purchase of weapons and welfare of our soldiers to finance his re-election campaign as well as the neglect and insensitivity that led to the escalation of killings and bloodletting in various parts of the country under his rule.

President Buhari should provide answers for his incompetence and harsh economic policies that plunged our economy into recession, leading to high cost of living, loss of over 30 million jobs, acute poverty, hunger, collapse of infrastructure in our country in the last three and half years.

On our own part, the PDP will continue to focus on issue-based campaign and run with practical answers to the myriad of challenges facing our nation in line with the manifesto of our repositioned party and the policy direction of our Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

•Sourced from a Vanguard report

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